1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to restraint systems for vehicles and, more particularly, to a novel apparatus and method for use in conjunction with a seat belt restraint system that encourages an occupant in a vehicle to regularly use the seat belt and/or monitors whether a seat belt is properly secured about the occupant. This application discloses improvements to the invention disclosed in this application""s parent application.
2. The Relevant Technology
Automobile accidents are considered to be one of the leading causes of death or injury in the United States. Even though passive restraint systems such as lap/shoulder belts along with special car seat restraint devices have been shown statistically to reduce significantly the severity of injuries, especially to children, during automobile accidents, many parents or other care givers either consciously or unconsciously neglect to secure a child within an appropriate restraint system. Moreover, even adults can become careless or forgetful about properly securing themselves or their passengers.
Often the rationale for failure to use restraint systems with children is that it is too much bother or that children object too strenuously to being confined. Accordingly, many parents simply forego the use of a seat belt in order to avoid any unpleasantness. Some older children may even disengage a seat belt after it has been properly secured about them, without the parents or driver noticing. This is a potentially dangerous situation.
Some persons adopt the rationale that they are careful drivers or are only traveling a short distance, so that use of a seat belt is warranted neither for them nor their passengers. However, statistics have shown that many automobile accidents occur within 25 miles or so of home and generally are the result of unforeseen events over which even the most careful driver has absolutely no control.
In many automobiles today, a lighted icon is illuminated on a control panel and/or a sound is emitted when the seat belts of passengers are not engaged. This is conventionally implemented by sensors integrated into passenger and driver seats and seat belt couplings to determine if there is a passenger sitting in a given seat and, if so, whether his seat belt has been engaged. However, many passengers, even children, avoid use of the seat belt by engaging it without securing themselves within it, thereby circumventing the purpose of the weight and engagement sensors. For parents or drivers who wish to ensure that their passengers or children are properly secured in a seat belt, this is a potentially dangerous situation.
It goes without saying however, that monitoring whether a seat belt is properly secured is only the second best choice. If a passenger could be encouraged to use a seat belt and thereby develop a genuine desire to do so each time he enters a vehicle, a monitoring system might rarely be needed.
In view of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a device and methods for monitoring whether a seat belt is properly secured about a passenger. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide a system for encouraging the usage of a seat belt by passengers, especially children.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide improvements in apparatus and methods for monitoring whether a seat belt is properly secured about a passenger.
It is furthermore a primary object of this invention to provide improvements in apparatus and methods for encouraging usage of seat belts.
Another object of this invention is to provide a behavioral modification device which can be demountably affixed to a seat belt.
A further object of this invention is to provide a behavioral modification device which is activated upon proper securement of the seat belt.
Another object of this invention is to provide a behavioral modification system wherein the behavior modification device is interchangeable to retain interest for the person undergoing behavior modification.
Habit, properly directed, is probably the single most important aspect of behavior when it comes to such factors as seat belt usage. For example, airplane pilots have been reported as having reached for their seat belts when sitting down at the dinner table all as a result of a well-developed habit of seat belt usage. A pilot would never even consider starting engines without having the seat belt snugly in place. This is simply the result of habit, which is why it is so important to set the proper habit patterns in children. One goal of the present invention, therefore, is to make seat belt usage automatic so that each child will eventually insist upon using a seat belt when riding in any automobile.
The present invention includes an apparatus and method for monitoring whether a seat belt is properly secured about a passenger, and further, for even encouraging the use of a seat belt, especially by children. The invention comprises (1) a sensor, such as a pressure sensor, a tension sensor, a thermal sensor, or a proximity sensor that is integrated into or releasably attached to a seat belt and sensing when the seat belt is snug against a passenger, and (2) a means for communicating to a person that the seat belt is properly secured. In the case of a pressure sensor, the sensor is oriented toward the passenger to sense when the seat belt is securely fastened about the passenger and thus pressed snugly against him. An embodiment can be designed to simply communicate to the passenger or to another person, such as the driver, that the seat belt is pressed against the passenger or, alternatively, that it is not being pressed against the passenger. This may be done by means of an illuminated icon on an instrument panel, an audible sound, or any other method of communicating to a person the message that the seat belt is or is not properly secured.
An alternative embodiment can be modified to not only communicate that a seat belt is properly pressed against or snug against a passenger and therefore properly securing that passenger, but can also be designed to actually encourage the use of a seat belt by passengers, especially children. To do so, an incentive device and a control means are required, the control means preventing the incentive device from operating properly unless the pressure sensor, for example, senses that the seat belt is pressed against the passenger. The incentive device can be any preselected behavioral modification device such as an electronic toy, message system, or the like. When it operates, it may even, for example, transmit a predetermined reinforcement signal to the passenger such as a recorded statement, musical sounds, light displays, or the like. Thus, the incentive device will usually be an amusement device; but it can be any device that a passenger might want to use while buckled in and that would therefore provide an incentive to buckle up. The control means and a pressure sensor can be implemented together with a pressure switch used as the critical switch in an electrical circuit providing power to a toy or other amusement or incentive device. Proper securement of a seat belt causes the pressure switch to respond, which in turn allows the incentive device to operate. When the seat belt is not properly secured, the incentive device does not operate.
Furthermore, the present invention contemplates that such a device can be used with currently existing automobiles or other transportation systems by providing the pressure switch with a clip or other means for attaching the pressure switch to a conventional seat belt. In one such embodiment, a double-condition switch is used, making the incentive device capable of being used only when both (1) the pressure switch is engaged and (2) the switch is properly attached to a seat belt. This prevents the pressure switch from being depressed in some other way.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.